The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-08
The TRIPLE MURDER
The Crime of the Rue Montaigne for
which PranZini was Executed.

During the last two years there
have been several murders IN Paris
of women of loose character by men
who stole their jewels and money.
Among the most sensational of these
was the murder last March of Marie
Regnault, her servant aaG the latter's
little girl.
Marie Regnault occupied a suite
of rooms in the Rue Montaigne in
an apartment house, where the people
raised no objection to Nine. Regnault
as an immoral person until she be-
gan to be so indiscriminate in her
male visitors as to cause distrust Of
the honesty of some of them. In
fact, the concierge said to her:
Madame, you admit all kinds Of
men-perfect strangers even-to
your rooms, and some day We shall
ali wake up with our throats cut"
One morning her door remained
closed until late hour, and, as no
sound was heard inside, The con-
cierge finally ventured into her room,
where she was dead beside her bed
with her throat cut. The servant,
who was partly dressed, was found
also dead at the door leading back
toward her own room, and her little
girl was found gashed by the same
weapon-a huge carving knife-in
her room.
Evidently robbery had been the
| motive of the murders, for Nine.
Marie's jewelry was missing and the
whole place had been searched for
other yaluables. About $4,000
worth Of bonds and securities had
escaped the assassin's notice. There
was little clue to the murderer's S
identity. He had left the house early
and no one had seen him.
Several days later, however, it was
learned that a portion of Nine. Reg
nault's jewelry was in the hands of
some disreputable women in Mar
seilles. They willingly gave it up
to the police. and said that they had
received it from a man named Pran-
'zini. The latter was arrested ard
confronted with the women. He
denied ever having seen them, and
thenceforward his whole defence was
series Of persistent denials of
everything that would connect him
with the murders.
Investigation showed that he had
wonderfully adventurous career
one day with Gen. Skobelef, the next
in Egypt, the next organizing cara
vans in Asia or gambling at the
roulette tables at Monte Carlo. His
two passions had Seen play and
women, but chiefly play. On his trial
the efforts of the interrogatories were
directed to showing that to sat-
isfy the second.
He was about thirty years old,
short, neither very dark nor very
fair--a joil garcon, the French would
say-sbort, curly hair, very thin at
top, brushed smoothly over the
square forehead, but magnificent
curly hair, very thin at top, brushed
smoothly over the square forehead
out a magnificent curly beard and
whiskers neatly trimmed like the
mustache; small, observant eyes and
wonderfully mobile eyebrows; nc
particular character in the nose OF
mouth; neck shapely.
He had many successes will
women, and among his effects were
several letters from an American
girl, apparently wealthy, educated
and refined, whom he had seduced
One of the chief witnesses agalns
him was an elderly woman Damet
Mile. Sabatier, who, as was stated II
Court, had supported him as his mis-
tress, though nearly old enough to b
his mother.
At the time he met Mile. Sabatier
Pranzini seems to have been ahjectl,
Door. The evidence showed that h
) even had hardly any linen to wear
and that but for his BONES fortune:
he would have had good chance 0
starving.
Pranzini aduitted that he got
= big knife just before the murder
: but maintained that it was given t.
him by cutler in exchange for
pocket knife which needed repairing
AS to his flight from Paris after til
crime, lie was panic-stricken at tn
idea of having left two visiting card
! at Marie Regnaults.
1 His trial began July 9, and on tn